When I was eight years old I lived with my grandparents and they gave me a pet Bantam chicken. I love those chickens back then and still do today. I always thought the feathers on their legs made them beautiful.

This particular chicken was my life at the time as I had no other kids to ever play with. She would follow me around everywhere, when I sat down she jumped in my lap so I hugged her and loved her immensely.

She hatched out three eggs and had three small bantams and soon they follwed the actions of their Mom. They came to me when I called them and I always fed them some scratch. We had other chickens so we always had plenty of it.

My grandmother was a preacher so almost every night we were at church somewhere as she built alot of churches all over the place.

I had been playing with my hen and she hollered to get dressed we had to go. There was a small pen inside the edge of the yard so she told me to put my pet and her babies in it until we got home. I did as she told me she was boss.

We got home around midnight best I can remember and the first thing I did was check on my pet. When I got close my Grandmother was on my heels as we heard the dandiest racket of a rattler and not expecting it we did not know whether to run, stand still, or crap our pants.

So she hollered at my Grandpa, she said Ollie come quick it is dark and there is a rattler somewhere here and we are not moving. He came with a light and I noticed the corner of my pen was open. I reached to close it and that darn rattler struck. It missed but I still wet myself.

My Grandmother started praying, she said Jesus rescue my boy as she did not know if I had got bit or not.

That snake was in the pen with my babies and I was a raising cane and Papaw said get away. I saw when he shined the light my hen was dead and no babies could be found as the snake had killed her and ate the babies.

I was so upset and could not do anything but cry as he had taken away my life as I knew it then. Oh, they got me other bantams but none was ever the same.

I have hated rattlers every since then. After sixty two plus years I often still think about her and her babies.

Oh I loved that chicken

© Janie Moser 06/04/08
As told by Tom C. Lee